Under the Skin
⋆⋆⋆½ out of four stars
Rated: R for graphic nudity, sexual content, violence and some language.
Theater: Uptown.

How to grapple with the hallucinatory style, the fundamental and systematic strangeness of “Under the Skin”? It’s dauntingly oblique, a mystery-thriller about an extraterrestrial pod person (Scarlett Johansson at her moodiest and most enigmatic) trolling for male humans.

The movie is a trancelike, disorienting experience, to be absorbed, digested, debated but not swiftly understood.

This is not a case of being weird just for the hell of it. Director Jonathan Glazer guides the story in a way that makes the audience feel the detachment of Johansson’s largely mute (and mutant) Mona Lisa. He cloaks the picture in dark, rain-soaked colors and shadows, and pushes the subliminal white noise of daily life to the forefront.

Johansson drives through Glasgow and the Scottish countryside in a van. In scenes that hum with menace, she strikes up flirtatious conversations of mechanical small talk with random men. Enchanting them like a siren, she takes them to a dark, decrepit house. Inside, she leads them in a fatal mating dance, baring her inviting flesh. Like somnambulists the men walk toward her, undergoing an indefinable and horrifying transformation.

Johansson’s mission gradually changes her, too. Near the beginning, she observes a heartbreaking act of bravery and sacrifice without a flicker of compassion. She is an actress gifted enough that this passivity is riveting.

Over time she begins to exhibit signs of curiosity about humans, even empathy. Is it because she has she been contaminated by overexposure to emotional homo sapiens? Aroused by our tenderness and mystery?

There are no answers, but if there were, would they really explain this haunting, inscrutable film and the heart-punch of the final image? Built from a rare alloy of formal control and horror-film tension, “Under the Skin” is original to the highest degree. Is it a great film? I’m not convinced. Are there moments of greatness in it? Quite a few.

Finding Vivian Maier
⋆⋆⋆⋆ out of four stars
Unrated: Suitable for all audiences. In English and subtitled French.
Theater: Edina.

In 2007, Chicago history buff John Maloof bought cases of undeveloped negatives at an auction house and made a discovery that stunned the art world. It was a cache of brilliant photographs by an unknown camerawoman whose shots of mid-20th-century street scenes rank alongside the work of the era’s recognized masters.

The film excitingly chronicles Maloof’s detective work as he digs into the identity of this reclusive, overlooked artist. Vivian Maier, who worked as a nanny for upper-crust families on Chicago’s North Shore, was an enigma. A portrait emerges of a hoarder and a spiky eccentric with a miraculous eye for photographic composition.

The images show Maier’s eye for the macabre (there are shots worthy of crime photographer Weegee or Diane Arbus), and an appreciation for individuals caught in the act of being themselves.

The film was codirected by Maloof and Charlie Siskel, nephew of the late Chicago Tribune film critic Gene Siskel. He does his uncle proud. If you enjoyed the similarly themed “20 Feet From Stardom” and “Searching for Sugarman,” this may be the most pleasurable 83 minutes you will spend in a theater this year.

Draft Day
⋆⋆⋆ out of four stars
Rated: PG-13 for brief strong language and sexual references.

Kevin Costner + sports movie = How can you go wrong? In the lightweight dramedy “Draft Day,” he plays the beleaguered general manager of the Cleveland Browns on a day of professional and personal turmoil.

As the deadline ticks down to the moment when NFL teams draft the top of the college crop, Costner’s embattled executive has to cope with other Machiavellian GMs, his team’s insufferable owner (Frank Langella) and the young players’ character flaws and foibles.

Then there’s an avalanche of family baggage from his girlfriend/Browns salary cap expert (Jennifer Garner) and his overbearing mom (Louise Fletcher, comically believable as a dragon lady who can effectively browbeat Costner).

As the Browns’ head coach, Denis Leary is stratospherically over the top.

Ivan Reitman’s direction uses countdown clocks and endless split screens of teleconferences to goose up the tension surrounding the all-important draft picks. The script follows suit by having Costner bob and weave through a series of risky bluffs and mind games with his fellow GMs.

These shenanigans would doubtless get him fired on the spot, but this “Moneyball”-lite is clearly designed to end in cheers, not tears. Don’t worry if you’re not a hard-core gridiron fan — Costner’s cool charisma and the universal nature of office politics make this accessible anyway.

Rio 2
⋆⋆ out of four stars
Rated: MPAA rating: G

With “Rio 2,” the creators of “Rio” give us more of everything that their first film had in just the right doses. But more is not always better.

There are more stars in this birds-of-the-Amazon musical, with Broadway’s Kristin Chenoweth, Oscar winner Rita Moreno, Andy Garcia and pop star Bruno Mars joining in. And all of them sing. Because there are more tunes. And more animals. And there’s more story, as Jewel (Anne Hathaway) and Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) take their brood (they now have three kids) into the Amazon to help Linda (Leslie Mann) and her scientist husband Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro) track down a rumored lost, last flock of bright blue macaws.

One thing the cluttered, overlong “Rio 2” lacks in extra supply is jokes. Mostly, the humor aims much younger here, with kid-pandering gags that only tiny tykes will find funny. Blue Sky Animation is back to cranking out good-looking animated sausage to its old “Ice Age” formula, which is a singing, crying shame.

Sure, holiday baking traditions are great. But isn't it time to try a new sweet treat this year? The Holiday Cookie Finder has every winning recipe from our annual baking contest from the past 14 years.